NADINE AND SAMMY
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Friday, December 7: Yours & Owls
December 22: (show and workshop) Thirroul Railway Hall
Bookings: valmcgarry@optusnet.com.au
It’s a love story with music already supplied.
As someone who loves to travel, a young Nadine Landry thought her job as a flight attendant was perfect. Little did she know, something even better was around the corner – or perhaps, on the stage above.
‘‘I first saw the Foghorn Stringband in Alaska ... early 2003. They’d come from Portland to play, I’d come from Yukon, Canada.
‘‘And wow, I’d never seen a band play like that before, just playing straight, old-time music with so much energy.
‘‘I remember dancing all night, and being so ecstatic listening to their music. It kind of went from there.’’
A decade on and Landry is a guitar and upright-bass player and singer, a member of the acclaimed Foghorn Stringband and currently touring internationally as a duet with fellow band member and fiance Stephen ‘‘Sammy’’ Lind.
‘‘We saw each other occasionally over those early few years...he was touring, I was playing in local bands,’’ she says.
‘‘But it wasn’t until 2008 that we ended playing a whole gig together.’’
Landry left that night with more than she had imagined – both her own spot in the Foghorn Stringband and a new boyfriend, band leader Lind.
Going from strength to strength since, Landry is enjoying the ride.
‘‘It’s so great, we’ve had a lot of fun on the road together the last few years, touring across the US and Europe,’’ Landry says.
‘‘But Sammy and I doing our own little touring is so much fun too. We feel like we’re at home with each other, wherever we are.
‘‘We enjoy it, and it’s such a gift because we get to spend so much time together and share everything in life with each other, especially our music.’’
Both Landry and Lind enjoyed childhoods surrounded by families of musicians and it was that influence which put the two on the same musical path.
The duo’s versatility in genres and instrumentation reflects their respect and love for old-time music.
Country and Cajun influences drive their music, which is based in traditional fiddle tunes passed on for hundreds of years, classics of the dance halls of Louisiana
Alternating between the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, upright bass and accordion, the pair aims to reproduce these old-time melodies and create the same big sound.
‘‘People really get into the feeling of music. They’ll dance to this music from the very first note to the very last, all night long,’’ Landry says.
‘‘It’s just great to travel, play music, meet new people who appreciate the style of music and connect with them through our music.
‘‘There’s little pockets of places that love all that old-time country and Cajun music all over, and we’ve already found some in Australia too.’’